Magister Legum - LLM / This study set out to analyse Zimbabwe’s obligations under international law for the protection of UARC. Chapter one was an introduction to the study laying out the background of refugee and child protection. The background established that it was after World War II that the international community saw the need for an international instrument to define the legal status of refugees, after the refugee problem had not been resolved after World War I. This development saw the creation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. On the African continent the large number of people fleeing wars and internal conflict led to the adoption of the OAU Convention to address the unique problems associated with African refugees. The chapter also established that the protection of UARC should be integrated early into the design and implementation of assistance programmes. A child ought to be treated as a child first and as a refugee second. The main hypothesis of the research as set out in the chapter was that the children and refugee policies and laws in Zimbabwe do not sufficiently protect children in vulnerable situations such as UARC. Subsequent chapters addressed the issues raised in chapter one, that is outlining the obligations that Zimbabwe has internationally and showing whether these obligations are being fulfilled. Chapter two of the study examined Zimbabwe’s obligations in both international and regional law for protection of UARC. The study concluded that Zimbabwe by ratifying all refugee and children’s conventions, regionally and internationally is bound to protect refugee children, especially those who are unaccompanied. The chapter also established that the refugee Conventions do not fully protect UARC, as the definition of a refugee does not cater for children. It was submitted that these definitions require amendment. Specific protection for refugee children is provided in Art 22 of the CRC and Art 23 of the ACRWC, establishing that the best interests’ of the child principle is paramount especially to unaccompanied refugee in all stages of their displacement cycle until they receive appropriate accommodation. General Comment 6 lays out the various legal obligations that States have which include the obligation to respect the best interests of the child, the obligation pertaining to non-discrimination, providing care and accommodation arrangements and respect for the child views. Although being soft law, the General Comment as discussed in chapter two cannot be simply ignored as it is a vital tool used by treaty bodies to further explain or give flesh to rights provided in a UN Convention. Included in these obligations are also procedural needs and general and special protection needs. Chapter two also established that pertinent to the issue of refugee protection is the issue of burden sharing which entails that a State that faces difficulties in refugee protection issues can appeal for help from other States. Zimbabwe needs to cooperate with other States such as South Africa which hosts most refugees in Africa, if the rights of UARC are to be fully realised. Such cooperation can range from assisting children to trace their families, reunification and the issuing of identity documents. The government though has and continues to engage with non-governmental organisations to ensure that it fulfils its obligations. It is also established that the UNHCR plays a very significant role in refugee protection and is the central agency for refugee protection. It has published various executive committee conclusions on UARC emphasising the need for cooperation between States in protection issues.⁴⁶² In chapter three, the study examined Zimbabwe’s legislation that protects unaccompanied refugee children and Zimbabwe’s encampment policies, concluding that there are still gaps in the law that protects UARC and asylum seekers. By and large, the Children’s Act of Zimbabwe conforms with international treaties. In particular, it declares that the best interest of the child shall be paramount in matters concerning them; however, it is largely silent on children’s right to participation.⁴⁶³ Reference to UARC in the Children’s Act can be inferred from the reference made to children in need of care. As highlighted in chapter 3 above, this provision is highly inadequate and in need of amendment. The Refugees Act of Zimbabwe, as discussed in chapter three, clearly falls short in addressing the specific needs of children by not providing a specific section that relates to children. It, further, omits to take into account the fact that children in some instances become refugees as a result of socio economic factors such as poverty amongst others. The definition of a refugee in the Act does not accommodate children since it is basically a duplication of the 1951 Convention and the OAU Conventions’ definitions which do not cater for children as discussed in chapter 2 above. The Constitution of Zimbabwe is very significant in that it provides for rights exclusively applying to children over and above those provided to everyone resident in Zimbabwe.⁴⁶⁴ The State is obliged to adopt policies and measures to fulfil these rights, however, subject to the limitation of available resources. The limitation, however, has not been subjected to progressive realisation, which implies that the State is not committed to the immediate and tangible progress towards realising children’s socio economic rights.⁴⁶⁵ The CESCR has reiterated that progressive realisation implies a specific and continuing obligation on states to, as much as possible, be expeditious and effective in working towards the full realisation of the rights.⁴⁶⁶ Implementation of these laws is also still a problem in Zimbabwe. The current economic problems in Zimbabwe, in which the State is failing to cater for its own people, hinders the State from fully fulfilling its obligations towards UARC. Thus, although the government has in place a social and legislative mechanism aimed at promoting the rights of children, it has not been able to fulfil its obligations in full because its duty has been limited to the State’s available resources. This study, therefore, makes the submission that NGO support and international cooperation is highly necessary for the realisation of refugee children’s rights in Zimbabwe. The study also established that there is need for proper accommodation, adequate food and quality education for UARC at the Tongogara refugee camp in Zimbabwe.

The legal position of asylum seekers in South African social security system is more nuanced as a result of their transitional stay or status in the country. Asylum seekers may often be present in South Africa for a quite a long time but their social security entitlement is more restricted, and similar to that of temporary residents. For example, asylum seekers’ social security position is completely different from that of refugees. Refugees enjoy the same social security treatment similarly to South African citizens and permanent residents. Refugees qualify for the constitutionally entrenched right to have access to social security, including appropriate social assistance. Refugees also qualify for other socio-economic rights contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The exclusion of asylum seekers occurs despite the fact they are one of the vulnerable groups of noncitizens. Such exclusion forces asylum seekers to live under precarious conditions. It is fundamentally accepted that the drafters of the Constitution included the right to have access to social security, in order to ensure that everyone, irrespective of nationality and citizenship enjoys an acceptable standard of living. It is also fundamentally accepted that the right to have access to social security contained in section 27(1)(c) is limited by section 27(2) of the Constitution. Section 27(2) requires the State to take reasonable legislative measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to have access to social security. The South African courts had on several occasions confirmed that the content of section 27(1)(c) is limited by section 27(2) of the Constitution and that the state cannot implement the right to have access to social security on demand. It had also been confirmed that the right to have access to social security is enforceable. This means the beneficiaries of this right may seek recourse from the courts of law when they are not satisfied about the progress relating to the implementation of the programmes relevant to the right to have access to social security. The right to have access to social security is also limited by section 36(1) of the Constitution. In the international arena, the right to have access to social security is recognised as the entitlement of everyone, but in some instances differential treatment can be made by the states. Such differential treatment should serve the legitimate state objective and all noncitizens should be treated equally.

This master s thesis deals with European migration crisis and the role of selected countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. The thesis is divided into theoretical and analytical part. The theoretical part contains definitions of basic terms. For better orientation in this subject, it is crucial to distinguish between the terms migrant, refugee and spurious refugee. Another section is devoted to the theory of migration and asylum and migration policy. More extensive analytical part of the thesis is dedicated to possible causes of the current migration crisis and demographic structure of migrants. Furthermore a large part of the thesis is devoted to their level of education. In subsequent chapters the thesis deals with the impact of the migration crisis on economic and social aspects. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the current status of the migration crisis in the EU and to compare the approach of selected countries to this crisis. The comparison is included in the last chapter.

The diploma thesis is focused on the asylum policy of Germany after the reunification in early 1990s. Its aim is to analyse the development of the policy, defining of the main issues concerning the asylum nowadays and predict the possible future evolution. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one concentrates on defining of the basic terms and asylum protection by international and European law, the second one describes the development after the Second World War until 1990s, which is necessary to include in order to analyse the further development after the reunification until today. The last chapter describes the current form of asylum policy in Germany, describes its challenges and predicts the possible development in the future.

Background: According to Stockholm’s Public Health report refugees have lowest selfreported health and there are indicators of inadequate access to health care. All asylum seekers are offered a health assessment opportunity which less than half of them utilize. To address health problems within the group Stockholm County decided to extend an educational program for those who receive residence permit, with 12 hours health communication. Uppsala University was given the responsibility to evaluation the initiative.   Purpose: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the experiences of the involved officials of the initiative, the pros and cons of the initiative and areas of improvement.   Method: The data for this study was collect through semi-structured interviews with three different categories of officials. The collected data was analyzed using content analysis.   Results: One of the key benefits of the initiative was that it helped participants use health care. The partnership was perceived as successful because of the good communication. The officials expressed challenges regarding the length of the health communication and the struggle to meet the participant’s needs.    Conclusion: This study shows that the initiative addressed some of the barriers migrants face regarding utilizing health care. The partnership was success due to factors similar to those for other successful health promotion projects and partnerships. The challenges related to the length of the programme, which can be attributed to poor initial analysis of the problem, is together with linkage of the initiative areas of improvement. / Bakgrund: Enligt folkhälsorapporten Stockholm lider gruppen flyktingar av ohälsa och det finns indikatorer för bristande tillgång till vården. Hälsoundersökningar erbjuds till alla asylsökande men mindre än hälften av dem utnyttjar det. I Stockholms län har man beslutat att utöka samhällsorinteringen, som är obligatoriskt för de som har fått upphållstillstånd, med 12 timmar hälsokommunikation för att behandla ohälsa. Uppsala Universitet har fått ansvar för utvärderingen.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa genomförandet av den utökade samhällsorienteringeni Stockholms län, för- och nackdelar samt förbättringsområden ur tjänstemännens perspektiv.   Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ design där semi-strukturerade intervjuer med tre olika grupper av tjänstemän i samverkansprojektet användes för att samla in data. Den insamlade data analyserades med hjälp av innehållsanalys.  Resultat: En av de upplevda fördelarna med insatsen är att man har lyckats hjälpa deltagarna att använda sig av hälso- och sjukvården. Samverkan upplevs ha varit framgångsrikt tack vara bland annat bra kommunikation. Hälsokommunikationens längd är en av utmaningarna man har haft i projektet, där man har haft svårigheter att tillgodose deltagarnas behov inom tidsramen.    Slutsats: Enligt studien upplever tjänstemännen att man med insatsen behandlat en del barriärer som nyanlända möter. Samverkan upplevs ha varit framgångsrik tack vare faktorer så som bra kommunikation som även varit framgångsfaktorer för likande samverkan. Problemet med hälsokommunikationens längd kan bero på en bristfällig initial analys vilket är tillsammans med förankringsarbetet förbättringsområden för samverkan.

In the mid-2000s, the South African government systematically deported illegal Zimbabweans from their territory. In 2009, they placed a moratorium on the deportations and introduced the Zimbabwe Documentation Process (“ZDP”), which was to allow many of the millions of Zimbabweans to regularise their stay in South Africa.  During the moratorium, Zimbabweans continued to arrive in South Africa. As an immediate reaction, the Government of South Africa began to deny entry to Zimbabweans at the border, even when they claimed the need to seek asylum. The ZDP process finished at the end of 2010 and had only assisted approximately 275,000 individuals; a small number compared to the reported millions living in South Africa. In October 2011, the Government lifted the moratorium on deportations of Zimbabweans and, once again, systematically began deporting them. By August 2012, it was estimated that over 35,000 Zimbabweans had been deported from South Africa.  This thesis explores the actions carried out by the South African government to handle the large numbers of Zimbabweans within their sovereign territory. It specifically considers the deportations, non-admission at the borders and the asylum-system in South Africa in reflection with the Government’s international, regional and national refugee law obligations regarding non-refoulement.

This paper examines the intensified focus on ‘return’ in Danish asylum policy and the changed approach to the assessment of revocation of residence permits and asylum claims made by Syrian nationals. The aim of the study is to understand the interplay between Danish state actors and the Refugee Appeals Board and their tactics of legitimization in adopting this new approach and rejecting asylum protection to three Syrian nationals. The study concludes that discourses linking asylum protection to ‘international obligations’, refugee status to ‘return’ and ‘the refugee’ to an essentialist understanding of the term are fundamental in facilitating the decisions made in the cases. Furthermore, a governmental goal of ensuring ‘the security of society’, that is, the Danish population defined in national terms, underpins and works to sustain these discourses. The findings contribute to creating detailed knowledge about the Danish asylum system and the logic supporting the increased focus on ‘return’.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / South Africa is a regional hub for international immigration and the main destination for many African descent, a home of high number of refugees ad asylum seekers across African continent. The refugees and asylum seekers communities in South Africa are settled and melting into the city life with the host communities.

The content of the thesis is an architectural study of the temporary accommodation of migrants and finding a suitable location on the territory of the city of Brno. The choice of land suitable for construction must meet not only the technical requirements but also take into account the sensitive public relation to this type of equipment. The location of the Malměřice-Obřany district in Brno, currently managed as a brownfield, meets all the requirements and contributes to the reclamation of urban space.

Thesis advisor: Margaret . Lombe / The present study is situated at the intersection of the topics of migration and mothering; it seeks to examine the complexities around mothering in conditions of violence, precariousness, institutional neglect and mobility across borders. In particular, it documents the pre-migration, transit and post-migration experiences of 17 Central American mothers who have crossed the US-Mexico border with their children since 2014, and are resettling in the Boston area while they wait resolution of their asylum claims. By analyzing participants’ narratives, collected through in depth semi-structured interviews, the study explores (a) mothers’ exposure to traumatic events and human rights abuses transnationally; (b) mothers’ practices to survive and support their children under difficult conditions; (c) and the association of maternal experiences and practices with maternal mental health. The study documents how the unjust conditions in which these mothers parent their children—violence, precariousness and institutional neglect— contribute to difficult maternal practices—such as decisions to leave children behind or to risk taking children across borders—and unjust mental health outcomes for mothers. Some mothers in the study reported high levels of anxiety, depression and PTSD, related to contextual experiences and challenging maternal practices. Based on these findings and feminist theories, the study presents a gender sensitive theoretical framework to guide scholarship and practice with asylum-seeking mothers traveling with some of their children across borders. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.